I heard Stacy Abrams, the Georgia Democrat, on NPR, and when asked what advice she had for Democrats nationally, she said they should stick with identity politics.
I sort of slapped the side of my head. I get what she was driving at. The Democratic Party is always described as a “big tent” compared to the rubber-room that is the Republican Party. The latter is—let’s face it—an increasingly small cult of America: White men, overwhelmingly conservative Christians, hostile to non-Whites, homophobic, ill-educated, fairly misogynistic, and scientifically illiterate. Psychologically they exhibit all the neuroses we associate with Donald Trump: resentment, a vengeful streak, authoritarianism, extreme mendacity, smugness, narcissism, and a rather sociopathic attitude towards everything.
Democrats perceive this, but have been somewhat slow on the uptake of what to do about it. The “big tent” analogy makes their task harder. They have to pretend that everybody is welcome, but a lot of Democrats don’t like the kinds of people the party welcomes. Conservative Christians, for example (yes, the party still has some) don’t really like gays, and vice versa. Blacks have their problems with Asians, and vice versa. Wealthy Democrats don’t like the way progressives are always coming after their money. Poor Democrats don’t like the party sucking up to the rich. Working class Dems don’t care for the country-club set. Rural Dems feel the cities don’t care about them. There’s a lot of tension in that big tent, and Dems haven’t figured out a way to deal with it, except in the rare instance that a truly unifying figure, such as Barack Obama, comes along, which is once in a lifetime.
Dems dare not disrespect any of their constituency, so they have to make nice with everyone. And this is what Stacy meant: the minute Dems start losing their identity groups, the party, like a melting icecap in a warming world, risks crumbling altogether. The question therefore becomes, how to keep everyone onboard. This has always been the Democrats’ curse, and opportunity. If they can keep the fault lines from fissuring, they have a chance to be the majority party. If they can’t, well, they need only consider the fate of the Whigs, or the Free Soil Party, or the U.S. Labor Party. All died in their time.
I believe in the big tent. It gave us FDR and the New Deal, LBJ and the Great Society (with all its problems), and gay rights. It saved democracy when, in 1992, Bill Clinton was elected President, at a time when Newt Gingrich and his fascists were threatening to upend the Constitution. We’re at a similar inflection point today, with MAGA closer than ever to turning us into a Christian dictatorship. At the same time, we can’t close our eyes to the fact that the Democratic Party erred seriously when they allowed the insanity of woke to infect the party. It was like opening the flaps on the big tent and inviting every creep, flea and maniac in.
So what to do? I believe we can maintain the big tent while keeping the Democratic Party sane. We can say NO! to certain elements out there we don’t like and don’t want in our party. In the case of Oakland and Alameda County, we can say NO! to people like Pamela Price and Carroll Fife. If they don’t like it, let them go off and start a third party. But what we shouldn’t do is allow the Democratic Party to become a racist, ranting wild dog that nobody likes. We all know that most Americans are moderate. They don’t like extremists, whether they be Nazis, wacko Rapture Christians or racists. How hard can it be for the Democratic Party to return to its roots and abjure the horrors that lurk in the shadows?
Answer: It can be and is very, very hard. But so is everything worth doing. I don’t have any particular advice for Stacy Abrams to resuscitate her fading political career, but one thing she can do is stop talking about identity politics. At least, Americans know where Republicans stand on most things. But Democrats? Are they in favor of trans women playing men’s sports? Do they believe Jesus is returning? Do they want to protect wolves or let them roam across the West? Do they wish to raise taxes on the working class and redistribute the money to people of color? There are so many questions plaguing the Democratic Party these days, and yet what choice do we have? Somebody has got to stand up and oppose the looming threat of MAGA. If not Democrats, then whom? This is our chance.
Steve Heimoff